Riddled Panic
by ModernFemMerlinSpy
Summary: The summer after the Nogitsune, Stiles hides from his guilt by trying for an internship at Google. Will his hiding be successful or will the guilt find him? No worries though, he has his bro Lydia!


**Soo, this is related to my other story Google: Beacon Hills, but it can be read by itself with very little confusion… I think… Maybe? Anyway, I hope you like it! This is dedicated to EpicPickleNinja because when I asked her who I should dedicate it to she said her… and Dylan O'Brien… So I guess it can be dedicated to both of them! So I own nothing except the idea… Just in case you for some reason thought I did… but you all seem like intelligent people so I figured you didn't. Anyway… Enjoy!**

Stiles woke up screaming… again. This was the third night in a row that he woke up after just a few hours of sleep. He was exhausted but the nightmares just would not let up. They would not let him get any sleep, and it was worse now that he was in a strange place surrounded by a bunch of college students. He knew the rules for the program said "high school juniors and up" but he had a feeling that he was the only high school kid who thought to apply. That was one of the reasons he felt bad for his group. They somehow ended up with an instructor who did not know how to lead a group, two old guys who he honestly had no clue how they got in, two semi-normal college kids—by semi he meant one was a horny, conspiracy nut and the other was an abused mamma's boy—and him. A snarky antisocial exhausted high school kid with extreme mental issues.

Stiles sighed and looked at his clock. It was only 3:30 in the morning, and try as he might, Stiles knew he was getting no more sleep. Tonight's nightmare was particularly brutal. It went from the bomb going off at the police station killing his dad, to Allison dying, to Lydia dying, and finally to Scott dying, all because of him. He ran his fingers through his hair and tried to think of something to do. He couldn't call anyone back in Beacon Hills, it was way too early for that, and he knew from experience that waking a werewolf up to early was a very bad idea. He decided to read a book and was just about to get up and get it when he heard a knock on his door. Hoping it wasn't his neighbor wondering why the hell Stiles was screaming his lungs out at 3:30 in the morning, he made his way to the door. Opening the door, he was honestly not expecting to see the petite, strawberry blonde girl standing in the hallway with a designer duffle bag over her shoulder.

"Lydia? What are you doing here?" He asked, very confused.

"I told you on the phone yesterday that I would see you tomorrow. Well it's tomorrow, so here I am," she responded in her best "duh" voice.

"It's like 3:30 in the morning Lydia. When you said tomorrow, I thought you meant at like 9," Stiles told her, though it wasn't like he was annoyed.

"It's not like I woke you up. You and I both know that you have been having nightmares and haven't had a decent night's sleep since the whole sacrifice thing," she told him, and he couldn't argue with her.

He stood back to let her in. "So I don't have a roommate so you can have the other bed. How long are you staying?" he asked, eyeing her duffle bag.

"As long as it takes to make sure you are not going to bolt and for you to get a full night's sleep," she responded while looking around the room. She was actually impressed, Stiles had managed to keep the room clean so far, even if it had only been three days.

"Ok…" Stiles responded, not really knowing what to say to her concern. "So if you want to go to sleep you can, I'll probably just stay up and read or something," he said changing the subject instead.

"I'm not tired," she told him, "can we just talk? You aren't going to get anymore sleep tonight and I just don't want to go to sleep."

"Yea sure, what do you want to talk about?" he asked her with a smile. He was honestly glad for something to keep his mind from wandering.

"Anything, how's Google?" she asked, unable to keep the interest out of her voice no matter how hard she tried.

So that was how they spent the rest of the night. They talked about anything and everything. Stiles told her all about his group (she cringed in sympathy… after hitting him for calling himself a problem for his group), and about Google's campus and resources, to which she couldn't quite contain her jealousy.

She told him all about what was happening back in Beacon Hills, even if he had only been gone for three days. She told him about how Isaac was considering leaving, which didn't surprise him as much as it probably should. He had lost someone thanks to the Nogitsune. Stiles hadn't and had still left for the summer. She also told him how Ethan had come back, for which Stiles was happy no matter how much he didn't really care for the guy. He was happy for Danny's sake, because no matter how many times he said he just couldn't handle dating a werewolf, Stiles knew he missed him. Also, Ethan had suffered probably the worst loss, losing a sibling was hard, losing a twin sibling who you did everything with had to be ten times worse. Ethan needed someone who would help him through that and the only place he would be able to find that was in Beacon Hills with Danny. At least, that was Stiles opinion on the matter.

They ended up talking all night, and didn't stop until Stiles got a text around 9 saying to meet in the groups lounge in an hour for the next challenge. Stiles gathered his clothes and went to go take a shower while Lydia got changed and ready in his room. He got back to his room 15 minutes later and together he and Lydia went for coffee and a quick tour on the way to the lounge, talking and laughing as they went.

Stiles' group looked up when they heard two people enter laughing about something. Stuart (they didn't really want to call him Stiles, he had changed it for a reason and they didn't want to pry any more than they accidentally already had) was the only one missing, and he wasn't really the type to be laughing like that. Looking at the door, they were shocked to see a very pretty red head and Stuart walking in.

"Ummm… Hey Stuart," Lyle said though it came out more like a question. None of them were used to seeing the normally snarky quiet boy so happy.

Stiles looked up with a rare smile on his face. It wasn't as big and not nearly as happy as his smile used to be, but it was genuine, and Lydia was happy to be the one to put it there. "Hey guys, this is my friend Lydia. Lydia, this is Neha, Yo-Yo, Lyle, Billy and Nick. Lydia decided to visit for a while. I hope its ok?" He asked, though he knew that even if it wasn't, no one would be able to get Lydia Martin to leave before she wanted to.

"Yea, its fine. She just can't help us out on the challenges," Lyle told him. He was surprised when the smile on Stuart's face came back, just a little brighter than before.

"Oh, you don't have to worry. I prefer to let _Stuart_ figure out his own challenges," Lydia said, emphasizing the Stuart, smirking at Stiles who in turn just rolled his eyes.

"Yea, like she could figure any of this stuff out. She looks like she's never even picked up a book," a snarky British voice sounded from behind Stiles and Lydia.

Stiles just groaned as Lydia turned around to bitch out Graham. "Excuse me, I'll have you know, I am first in my class, and my whole school," Lydia informed him with her cool bitch voice.

"In what, preschool?" Graham asked her.

"No, actually thank you very much, I'm in high school, and have already been offered scholarships to Stanford, Harvard, and Yale, and I'm not even a senior yet," she told him.

"Oh, robbing the cradle are we?" Graham asked, turning to Stiles.

"I'm in the same grade as her you idiot," Stiles said coolly, glaring, actually causing Graham to step back before he regained his cockiness and laughed at Stiles.

"Ah, and here I thought your immaturity came from the rest of your group, but it actually comes from the little baby teenager they have to deal with," he responded with a smirk.

"I'll have you know, I got into the same program you did, so think about that, a little lowly teenager getting into the same program as a big bad college kid, while you go back to your annoying little group. Now bye," Stiles said to a stunned Graham, who just scoffed and walked away. He turned around to see Lydia looking proud while the rest of the group just looked stunned.

"You are only in high school?" Neha asked.

"Yea… I thought you guys figured that out yesterday?" Stiles said confused. He could have sworn that damn article mentioned he was in high school.

"We just thought the article was wrong, since it was wrong about everything else," Yo-Yo answered.

"Oh, well no, my age was the only thing it did get right. I'm only 17," Stiles told them, hoping it wouldn't make them not want to work with him.

"That's cool, now what's the next challenge Lyle," Nick asked, completely changing topics. Stiles sighed in relief and Lydia just smiled up at him, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze before letting go and walking over to sit down.

"I don't know yet, but it looks like we are about to find out," Lyle told them, just as the video screen came on, and Mr. Chetty appeared on screen.

"Good morning Nooglers. Today's challenge is an obscure one. Many times, customers calling to complain do not know how to explain their problem, so anyone who works for Google, must be good at solving the riddle of what they are saying. Attached is a link of 6 riddles, your group has 30 minutes to answer them all, the final riddle being how to get the answers back to me. The first group to answer them all correctly is the winner. Good luck," Mr. Chetty told them.

Stiles started to panic. He hated riddles, even more so after the Nogitsune. Fortunately, he was good at them, so maybe they might actually win this time and he can then go and panic in peace. "Ok, riddle one," Neha read aloud to the group. "No sooner spoken than broken, what is it?"

"Uhh… glass?" Nick asked. He and Billy were once again out of their league. No matter how much bullshit they said about being good at riddles, they just weren't.

"Silence," Stuart said quietly. They all looked up in surprise, they had never heard him sound so nervous? Panicky? They weren't really sure how he sounded, but they didn't like it.

"Huh?" Billy asked.

"No sooner spoken than broken, the answer is silence," Stiles told them. He was trying really hard to not think of the last time someone had asked him riddles. He looked over at Lydia and based on her worried look, he knew she remembered too.

"Umm, ok, silence it is… Number two," Neha said typing silence onto the sheet, "What can you catch but not throw?"

"Well if you are Nick, nothing. He can throw anything, but ask him to catch anything and it ends up on the floor," Billy jokes.

"That is very true," Nick says in all seriousness, causing the rest of the group to roll their eyes and Lydia to scoff.

"A cold," Stiles says a little louder this time, these were not the same riddles he was told last time, and his nerves were starting to settle. He could do this.

The others nodded, impressed, they were honestly no good at riddles, but if Stuart kept going, maybe they would actually win this challenge.

"Ok," Neha said a little peppier, "number three. What gets bigger the more you take away?" Lydia thought she saw Stiles tense up at this, but the moment she looked his way, he seemed fine, just tired but that was nothing new.

"A hole."

Neha and the rest of the group were flat out smiling at this point, they actually had a chance. "Number four, what gets wetter the more it dries?" Once again, Lydia thought Stiles looked more tense than usual, but chalked it up to concentrating on winning. Yes, she knew about the riddles the Nogitsune asked Stiles, but she didn't know how bad they had ended up effecting him.

"A towel," Stiles answered, a little quieter this time, the panic building again.

The team was laughing at this point, giddy in the prospect of winning. "Five, huh, this is a weird one," Neha said. "When is a door not a door?" By this time, everyone was looking straight at Stuart, not even bothering trying to figure it out on their own.

Lydia knew for a fact that Stiles was panicking now. He was starting to shake and his breaths were coming shorter. Luckily, no one else noticed, not knowing Stiles that well and being too caught up in the thought of beating Graham, something even Lydia wanted them to do just to shove it in his face.

"When it's ajar" Stiles answered shakily. These were the exact riddles the Nogitsune asked him. He couldn't help the flashbacks he got of all of the people he hurt. He could feel a panic attack coming on. He just hoped he could hold it off until the challenge was over. He steeled himself for the next riddle, just knowing what was coming next.

"Ok, last one, remember guys, this is the one that will tell us how to send the answers back to Mr. Chetty," Lyle told the group, just as excited as them at the thought of winning a challenge, even an obscure one.

"Ok, here we go, six, everyone has it but no one can lose it, what is it?" Neha asked.

"A shadow…" Stiles all but whispers to the group, shaking all over.

"That's it!" Yo-Yo yelled excitedly, "We send the answers using a shadow file!" **(AN: I'm not sure if that exists…. I kinda just made it up…)**

"Yes! That has to be it! Hurry send it!" Neha yelled to Yo-Yo who had rushed over to the computer when he had figured out how to send the file.

They sent the file using the shadow file they created and waited with bated breath. A few minutes later Mr. Chetty came back on the screen to announce the winner.

"Today's challenge is now over, congratulations to Lyle's group for winning the riddle challenge. You all have the rest of the day off to do as you please, and seminars will start back up tomorrow at 9o'clock sharp. Good day," Mr. Chetty said to the interns.

Their group cheered. They had won their first challenge, they had won and beat Graham. They were about to suggest going out to celebrate when they heard Lydia scream "Stiles!"

They all turned around and were in shock to see Stuart shaking, not able to breathe properly.

Stiles felt like there was a huge weight on his chest. He couldn't breathe or see properly, and he knew he was having a panic attack. He saw a figure crouch in front of him and grab his hands. "Stiles, listen to me, you have to breathe. You are safe. He can't get to you anymore. He is gone, dead, we won," someone, Lydia his brain supplied, was chanting soothingly to him. "Just breathe." He tried to follow her instructions but he couldn't. He couldn't catch his breath. "Just copy my breathing, in, out," she said, holding his hand to her chest, trying to make him copy her breathing. It slowly started to work, his breaths calmed down and his vision came back to him. A few minutes later his panic attack was over and he was sitting on the floor leaning against Lydia who had her arms protectively around him.

"What the hell was that?" Billy asked Stuart.

"It was a panic attack, he gets them sometimes when bad memories come up or something stressful," Lydia answered for him, rubbing her hand up his arm soothingly.

"What caused it?" Neha asked carefully, cringing when Lydia glared at her.

Lydia was about to snap that it was none of her business when Stiles stopped her. "It's fine Lyds, I'll tell them, they already know everything else… kinda," he said, whispering the last part so only Lydia could hear him. Turning to look at them he said "Do you remember how I told you that when I went missing from the hospital it was against my will?" When they nodded, he continued. "Well the guy that took me," he said, choosing his words carefully, "he kept asking me riddles, and some of the riddles that were in the challenge today were the same ones he asked me. I just freaked out," he finished, looking down.

"Hey man, don't be ashamed. If Lyle had been taken, Lyle would have shut down. He wouldn't have been able to do anything for a long time. But here you are, less than a year later, competing in this program, living your life, so its ok to freak out every once in a while. It doesn't make you weak," Lyle told Stuart. The rest of the group nodded in agreement.

Stiles smiled, "Thanks guys, I'll try and remember that. Hey, I think I'm just going to go back to my room, but have fun celebrating the win. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Stiles was relieved, he had honestly expected them to look down on him, but they didn't. He and Lydia waved to the group and made their way back to his room.

"They are right you know. You are not weak. You are so far from weak. You just have to let yourself believe it," Lydia told him once they got back to the room.

"I'm trying, but can we talk about something else for right now? Maybe watch a movie?" Stiles asked her.

She sighed but said "Of course, but I get to pick the movie." Stiles sighed and resigned himself to watching The Notebook with the girl that he was truly glad had become one of his best friends.


End file.
